LONDON It was Jed Mercurio, a doctor himself, who wrote these chilling lines for the BBC series Cardiac Arrest “You come out of medical school knowing bugger all - no wonder August is the killing month. We all kill a few patients while we're learning.” Well August is upon us, so if you or a loved one need to be admitted to hospital, should you feign a spontaneous recovery, or at the very least put it off for a few weeks?

If new doctors really are that dangerous, you might expect death rates to rise as soon as they step on to the ward. Research from Imperial College last year found a small jump in deaths for people admitted as emergencies on the first Wednesday in August (when the new batch of junior doctors arrives). The authors estimated this would account for an extra 12 deaths a year in England. Other studies show an increase in prescribing mistakes by first-year trainees.

More recent research from Australia found a rise in “undesirable events” linked to anaesthetists changing hospitals at the start of each year of their training. This is something serious, such as a patient not getting enough oxygen during an operation. The authors blame unfamiliarity with a new workplace and poor communication with other staff.

So if you want to stay safe any time of the year, talk to your doctor and know what's going on. As well as the risk of being given the wrong drugs, there are infections to watch out for (so ask your doctor if they have washed their hands since they touched the bloke in the opposite bed).

In short, don't be a bystander. And make sure you also avoid America in July - which is their changeover month.—Dawn/The Guardian News Service